Aerospace & defense optimization
Advanced algorithms for demanding operations
4colors plans around scarce expertise, equipment and tight timing in aerospace and defense. Its algorithms search the coupled constraints together.
Winner of the Airbus x BMW challenge, with an Airbus proof of concept and a Dstl contract.
Availability is not the same as feasibility
An aircraft may have a maintenance slot and an available hangar, yet still lack the qualified inspector or replacement component needed to begin. A production line may meet its local target while another facility waits for deliveries.
In aerospace operations, a workable plan must bring the right resources together at the right moment. Finding a stronger one means evaluating the consequences of many connected choices.
Eight pallets for one aircraft. Weight placement decides the balance.
Payload carried15.2 t
Centre of gravityOut of limits
Illustrative example, not customer data.
Four aircraft, one week: every jet needs its check without losing flights.
Flights lost5
Checks completed7 of 7
Illustrative example, not customer data.
Where availability and mission priorities collide
Maintenance and resource scheduling
Coordinate task dependencies, qualifications, equipment, facilities and narrow operating windows. Explore feasible sequences and alternatives when priorities or resource availability change.
Production and industrial logistics
Align manufacturing and transport commitments across facilities. Better coordination can reduce avoidable handling, late deliveries and the cost of planning each operation separately.
Complex computational problems
Large network and data problems call for algorithms matched to their mathematical structure and scale. We model routing, assignment and configuration choices and search them systematically.
Algorithms and expertise
From the solver engine to ready-made planning apps, pick the level that suits your team.
4colors Optimizer
The solver engine behind every 4colors product. A portfolio of search methods for hard planning decisions in routing, loading, scheduling and allocation, from Python or the API.
Optimizer for Scheduling
Advanced scheduling algorithms for the software you build to manage jobs, machines, people and resources. Due dates, setups and shared resources sit in one model.
Planning Applications
Takt, Roster and Stride bring optimization to production, shift and project planning. When a rush order lands or someone calls in sick, each re-plans within your rules.
Custom Optimization
Original models and algorithms built around your own resources, rules and objectives. We work with your team from the first prototype to a planner that runs in your systems.
Relevant work
See the Airbus x BMW competition summary| Winner, Quantum-Powered Logistics
Airbus x BMW Quantum Computing Challenge
Integrated production and transportation optimization with advanced classical algorithms and quantum routines.
Airbus · ORCA Computing
Aircraft loading on quantum hardware
Hybrid aircraft-loading algorithms tested on gate-based and photonic hardware.
Airbus
Quantum approaches for aerospace planning
Integrated optimization taken from a competition challenge toward industrial planning scenarios.
Best known
RG300 project scheduling benchmark
4colors Optimizer established best-known schedules on 113 of 480 projects in a public project-scheduling benchmark.
Our work also includes a UK defense research contract developing scalable analytics algorithms for large networks.
Planning when constraints intersect
Explore more use cases- Case study
Aircraft Cargo Loading Across Classical and Quantum Hardware
A 4colors-led consortium with Airbus, ORCA Computing and the NQCC tested hybrid optimization methods on gate-based and photonic quantum computers.
Read the case study - Industry article
Aerospace and Aviation: When Resources Have to Meet at the Right Moment
An available aircraft, a qualified person and a piece of equipment are three different things.
Read more - Use case
Deciding What to Observe When You Cannot Observe Everything
Sometimes the critical resource is a ten-minute opportunity, not the instrument itself.
Explore the use case - Insight
Batch Manufacturing: Why the Order of Production Matters
Two schedules can produce the same products and consume very different amounts of time.
Read the insight - Insight
The Optimization Project That Worked Until Monday
The algorithm solved the model. The factory could not run the result.
Read the insight
Bring us the difficult problem
Discuss an aerospace or defense challengeExplore Custom Optimization